Thursday, November 30, 2006

Live from Montreal

A quick break from the organized spontaneity to recap last night's events.

First of all, let me say that Howard Dean rocked. He got a massive ovation when he talked about how the party should "never cede a single province, a single riding, a single vote", spoke a little French ("Fox news is going to love this" he quipped), and talked about giving power to the grass roots. Even delegates I know who didn't like the idea of having Howard Dean as the guest speaker were impressed.

What I probably could have done without was the three hour buildup to Dean's speech which featured every single Maritime musical performer in Canada. I also didn't really understand the contortionist doing more backflips on stage that Bob Rae on the constitution. Shawn Graham did a good job talking about the need for a positive message rather than constantly tearing down our opponents. I guess Tanya Cappo didn't get the memo since she proclaimed that it's only a matter of time until "voters have no choice but to return us to power". Glen Pearson was certainly positive...maybe a little too positive since he called the Liberals "the only indispensable political force in the country".

The evening was probably a little awkward for the Ignatieff delegates who had to sit through a dozen denunciations of the Iraq war from pretty much every speaker who got up on stage.

Other highlights from yesterday included one of Gerard's kids shouting at a group of us in the food court "those people are voting for my daddy". I also managed to score pictures with my two favourite federalists in the world - Andrew Coyne and Jean Lapierre.

13 Comments:

Trust the Liberals, who so often cry that the Conservatives are "married at the hip" to Americans, to just use an import from America to be one of their leading candidates... ooops,, I mean headliner at their convention.

What hypocracy!!! Can you just imagine the uproar from self-righteous liberal designated mouthpieces if the Conservatives ever brought in a Karl Rove? Or even a Mary Matalin?

Oh, I can hear the comments now. The conservatives are Republican lap dogs. The conservatives need to go outside of the country to get inspiration. And on, and on, and on.

That being said, Dean did say you have to go to the grassroots. The Democrats actually did that. I don't see the Liberals being able to out-grassroot either the Conservatives, or even the NDP. It is just not in their DNA, and hence they will continue go have problems fund raising.

My understanding (from other blogs) is that the musical interlude was a "filler" while the organizers scrambled. Seems they were having a tough time keeping a convention on schedule as they couldn't get their American Star to the show on time.

I did bristle every time Pearson was referred to as an "MP", since he hasn't been sworn in yet. He's an MP-elect. Still, I guess the Liberals never did care much for facts, eh? :)

"Strategists have speculated about Ignatieff's and Rae's teams 'loaning' votes to Kennedy to keep him in third place ahead of Dion, who would then be the next candidate dropped off the ballot after the trailing four bottom-tier candidates withdraw".

It's assholes like Tanya Cappo that have made me throw in the towel on the Liberals. I won't be supporting them next election, regardless of who is leader - it's exactly that attitude that's driven me off.

Howard Dean is excellent and was by far the best choice available to the Democrats for 2004 - their choosing of Kerry will always baffle me. Oh, and Stephen Harper would fit in well in the US Democratic Party - it's funny how few Canadians realize that, and believe that the Democrats are the US's Liberals, and that Harper is Bush's Mini-Me.

Just a quick word of advice, from one who is not involved in this action: any candidate hoping to win needs help from all of the opposing camps. I know that there are some who want to think that "they" did it all themselves, but to win, you must win over the hearts of many who have supported your enemies.

Firstly, polls show Dion with strong second ballot potential - and he may well be endorsed by one of the also-rans - he has a definite shot at passing Kennedy (who has been treated by the media as being out of the race after his 2% showing in Quebec). As well, the location of the convention in Montreal - near Dion's delegates is helpful (whereas Kennedy's support in BC and Alberta will be harder to mobilize). So yes, Kennedy could use help.

Secondly, such a strategy would be effective for Rae because Dion delegates exhibit a fair second-choice preference for Rae - allowing Rae to stay alive long enough to knock off Kennedy. As well, Dion's strong long-term potential (though it is overstated by the media) is something Rae and Ignatieff are going to want to deal with.